Prepping Now for an HTML RIA Future
The recent announcements around Flex have crystalized an idea that has been lurking for a while: in another few years, RIAs will be predominantly created in HTML. What implications will this have for current Flex and even ColdFusion developers?
We'll discuss:
- What impact the announcements actually have
- Implications on the client side
- What's going to change (language, component libraries, etc.)
- What's going to stay the same (RIA problems like persistent client state, security, large event-driven apps, asynchronous processes, real-time messaging)
- Implications on the server side
- Multiple client interfaces
- Multiple protocols
- The service layer
- API design
- Investigating current HTML RIA options
- GWT with Java or Groovy
- JavaScript frameworks
- UI libraries
- How might HTML RIA options evolve?
- Mobile-focused
- Direct vs. cross-compilation to HTML/JS
- Evolution of libraries and frameworks
- Lessons from the rise and fall of thick clients
- Is my career over?
- History repeats itself (remember 1998?)
- A lot will change
- A lot of the problems will stay the same
- Flex and CF developers can benfit greatly with some planning and foresight
- Conclusion
